On Tuesday I called the Lee Animal Control place and inquired as to the status of our adoption of Juliet. Juliet, the abandoned cat of Irene H., a woman in her 90s who was taken to a facility, and now lies in bed, unresponsive. They say my application that I sent electronically was not received. This is contrary to a conversation I had with another rep. What was immediate was that I had to go to their location in Fort Myers and get her today because they are not a no-kill shelter and she was scheduled to be “removed”.

Ed arranged for Irene to have a public guardian as he couldn’t take her. He did ask the facility to take the cat but they said no because, according to them, Irene’s room-mate has asthma. How convenient. I said that was a cop-out and didn’t believe them. We agreed between us that we would take her and drove out to the trailer park and the trailer was jammed top to bottom with debris and furniture, and you could hardly move. The cat was under the bed and meowed, but wouldn’t come out and we couldn’t reach her. I got a neighbor to give us some milk which I put out for her, but she was not coming out, no way. The next day we met up with a team from Animal control and they said they'd have to trap her, so they put some food in a cage and promised to check it every day. When I called last Monday, they had her and I started the process.

So Ed, Sol and I drove to Fort Myers, and at the desk there was no mention of my missing application and I think they let that go because she was going to be euthanized if I didn’t take her.. They charged me $50, I added $25 as a donation, they brought her out in our carrier, and I didn’t get to see what she looked like till we were in the car. She is truly tiny, dark-grey fur, lovely face. I’m in love. But when we got her home, she crawled under the sink in the master bathroom and we left her there and then she disappeared and I only found her today buried in the master closet under a pile of towels and blankets. We’ve put her in the den which has a slatted accordion door. I have given her a kitty pan, and a dish with food and a water bowl and she disappeared again. But just a little while ago, Sol said she had come out and had eaten and peed and Sol took some photos. So I think she will be fine. I was really worried for a while.
Tomorrow morning when I feed the guys, I’ll take her some wet food. Today I put some under the master bed, thinking she was hiding out between the storage, but when I checked I saw that Tyler had found the food and it was his. Zounds.

Sol is keeping Sasha and Monet, her two cats, in the guest room that has its own bathroom connected by a small corridor and a pocket door seals off the unit. Sol will stay with us until she gets a job (two offers already) and an apartment. She is back from West Islip, Long Island where she had gone with her boyfriend, thinking it was a commitment. Non-stop togetherness killed the deal so she broke up with him and came back. To make up for "imposing" on us, she is being super helpful and is a Godsend.

xx, Teal